Indiana men’s basketball listed as a top NIL spender ahead of 2026-27 season

It’s no secret that Indiana Athletics has a pretty solid NIL operation going for itself.

The Hoosiers aren’t one of the top spenders in just about any sport but you don’t win a national championship in football with chump change. Indiana’s throwing some of that monetary might behind Darian DeVries’ men’s basketball program as well.

Now, there aren’t publicly available numbers for any program (outside of Xavier, sorry Richard Pitino). There are, however, diligent reporters who cover the sport who are willing to pour in the time an effort to cover their bases.

Matt Norlander and Isaac Trotter of CBS Sports have put together as solid of a piece on spending in the sport as you’ll find anywhere.

The teams you’d expect to be around the top are right there, with Kentucky, Duke, Florida, North Carolina and Illinois among others all reportedly spending over $20 million on their rosters this year.

Indiana is in a group right behind that one, not quite clearing that $20 million threshold but coming awfully close. The Hoosiers sit here alongside Arkansas, Kansas and UConn.

The difference between Indiana and the rest of these programs is pretty stark: they all make the NCAA Tournament. Regularly, at that.

Indiana’s transfer portal reload was a necessary step with just about all members of DeVries’ first roster either exhausting their eligibility or entering the portal themselves, save for sophomore Trent Sisley. On top of that, the program needed a change in identity after DeVries’ first iteration of Indiana men’s basketball became just another tournament no show.

The Hoosiers got bigger and more talented in the frontcourt and quicker in the backcourt. That’s not a cheap operation. The staff executed this plan pretty quickly, signing just about all impact players for the roster in a matter of weeks rather than over a month.

We all knew Indiana had the money. Now the staff and new roster needs to prove it has what it takes to make the tournament and win a few games once they get there.